The main objective of the household budget survey is to get reliable and scientifically founded data on the income, expenditure, consumption and other elements of the living standard of the population as well as changes which have occurred during the years.

· Household income includes all receipts of the household and its members during the surveyed period. The income is estimate in total and monetary form. Monetary income includes regular receipts from: wages and salaries, other earnings, entrepreneurship, property, pensions, social benefits, regular inter-household transfers, as well as sale of property and other irregular receipts. Total income includes monetary and valued income in kind.

· Household expenditure includes all resources spend by the household and its members during the surveyed period. The expenditures are estimated in total and monetary form. Monetary expenditure includes consumer expenditure on foods and non-alcoholic beverages; alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing and maintenance of the house; health; transport; communication; recreation, culture and education; miscellaneous goods and services; as well as taxes, social insurance, regular intro-household transfers and other non-consumer expenditure. Total expenditure includes monetary and valued expenditure in kind.

Variables of household incomes and expenditures are estimated average per household and per person and as structure.

Household consumption includes the quantities of main foods and beverages consumed at home. The catering data are not included. The variables are estimated by the household budget survey are calculated by balance method and are presented average per person.

Housing conditions variables are: type of dwelling, number of rooms, availability of water supply system, sewerage, electricity, bath and toilet.

The Household Budget Survey is a sample survey by implementation of two stage cluster. The general population from which the sample for the survey is formed comprises all the households in the country. Institutional households are not studied by the household budget survey. The unit of observation is every randomly chosen ordinary household irrespective of the number of members and their material and personal status. The sample size for the 2002 - 2009 period is 3000 households and since 2010 ?. - 3060 households each quarter.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Gross income

Gross household income is aggregated value of all regular incomes of the household and its members during the surveyed period from wages and salaries, other earnings, entrepreneurship, property, pensions, social benefits and regular inter-household transfers.

Net income

Net household income is calculated from gross income after deduction of tax and contribution to social insurance.

Consumer expenditure

The consumer expenditure of a household includes the expenditure done by the household for satisfaction of the necessities of the household as a whole or some household members.

Household

A private household consists of two or more persons living in a dwelling or part of dwelling and sharing common budget, having their meals together, no matter relatives or not.

One person living in a dwelling, separate room or part of room on his/her own budget also is considered a household.

Equivalent unit

For calculation of poverty indicators the total equivalised net income is used. The equivalence scales are applied to correct income for the household composition. The OECD modified scale is used giving a weight of 1.0 to the first member of the household aged 14 or more, 0.5 to each additional member aged 14 or more and 0.3 to each member aged less than 14 years old. The total net household income is divided by the equivalence scale that weights different members within the household with different weights according to their ages and the result is the total equivalised net income.

Statistical unit

Household (ordinary household).

Statistical population

The general population from which the sample is formed comprises all ordinary households in the country.

Institutional households are not studied by the HBS.

Reference area

According to the Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Confidentiality - data treatment

Individual data are not published in accordance with article 25 of the Law on Statistics. The publishing of individual data can be performed only in accordance with article 26 of the same law.

Release policy

Release calendar

Dates for release are defined in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute. Quarterly data on household income, expenditure and consumption is available 45 days after the reference period and annual data ? in April of the year following the reference year.

Data is published on the NSI website, section Households Income and Expenditure in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.

Frequency of dissemination

Monthly (to 2009), Quarterly (since 2010), Annual

Accessibility and clarity

News release

Household income, expenditure and consumption ? quarterly and yearly

Publications

· Publication "Household Budgets in the Republic of Bulgaria" - detailed annual data for different household groups (by place of residence, by number of household members, by number of employed persons, by number of children under 18, by total annual income per person in the household, by presence of pensioners, by professional and economic status of the household head, by decile groups);

· Booklet ?Household Budget Survey?;

· General Publications of the NSI.

On-line database

Detailed results on Household Budgets are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Households Income and Expenditure: http://www.nsi.bg/en/node/5640

Micro-data access

Anonymised individual data can be provide for scientific and research purposes, and for individual request according to the Rules for the provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes.

Other

Information service on request, according to the Rules for the dissemination of statistical products and services in NSI.

National quality reports for 2005 and 2010. Eurostat?s quality report of the Household Budget Surveys in EU countries, 2005.

Quality management

Quality assurance

Through checking on field work and control of the thoroughness of the records in the diaries.

Quality assessment

Relevance

User needs

The data is of interest to a wide number of users - state authorities, public and international organizations (Eurostat, UN, UNICEF, ILO, etc), students and others.

User satisfaction

No user' satisfaction surveys are carried out.

Completeness

Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

Maximal errors of main variables are between 2-5%.

Sampling error

The data are burdened with a certain stochastic error due to the sample character of the survey. The sampling errors calculated for main variables are published in annual publication "Household Budgets in the Republic of Bulgaria".

Non-sampling error

The number of replacements of the households and the reasons that the households do not take part in the survey are described in the methodological notes in the publication ?Household budgets in the Republic of Bulgaria?.

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness

Quarterly data are published 45 days after the reference period.

Annual data are published in April of the year following the reference year.

Punctuality

The terms in 15.1 are observed.

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

Not applicable.

Comparability - over time

Long time series.

Coherence - cross domain

Household expenditure survey is in accordance with the following surveys: Consumer Price Indices, National Accounts, Purchasing Power Parity.

Coherence - internal

Cost and burden

Every household receive 20 BGN per month of participation. It take part in the survey 4 months per year, average 2-3 hour per month.

Data revision

Data revision - policy

Not applicable.

Data revision - practice

Not applicable.

Statistical processing

Source data

Main documents of the Household budget survey are:

· Household dairy;

· Five questionnaires.

Frequency of data collection

Monthly (to 2009), quarterly (since 2010)

Data collection

The households keep a regular record in the Household Diary on:

· monetary and in-kind receipts, since 2010 and some irregular incomes for previous two months;

· monetary and in-kind expenditure, since 2010 and some irregular expenditures for previous two months.

The interviewers visit the household twice a month. During these visits they have a detailed conversation with the members of the household, check the completeness and reliability of the data entered into the diary and questionnaries.

Data validation

Logical control of data is happened at the time when the information is introduced.

The average annual income per household member in 2012 is 4 541 BGN or 15.3% more compared to 2011.
Bulgarian households have spent 4 058 BGN per person, which is 16.1% more than in 2011.
Statistical data proves the changes in structure of consumption of the Bulgarian households.

Pages

The National Statistical Institute (NSI) has the pleasure to submit to the attention of national and foreign users of statistical information the 77th edition of the ‘Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria’ in printed and electronic format. The issue is published in 2010, which marks 130 years since the establishment of a statistical institution in Bulgaria and 100 years since publishing of the first ‘Statistical Yearbook of the Bulgarian Kingdom’ in 1910.

The National Statistical Institute annual publication Bulgaria 2009 - Statistical Panorama (in Bulgarian and summary in English) is available to users of statistical information. In the issue are analyzed the demographic, social and economic development of the Republic of Bulgaria in 2009. Comparisons with the previuous 2008, the basic 2000 and the year 1995 are also made. The publication considers trends and structural changes occurring in the country. Results from pilot Eurostat projects and one-time surveys in the respective fields are being used.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the electronic bilingual (Bulgarian/English) publication Average Prices and Purchased Quantities of Main Foods and Non-Foods by Households for the 1992 - 2009 Period.

The National Statistical Institute annual publication Bulgaria 2008 - Statistical Panorama (in Bulgarian and summary in English) is available to users of statistical information. In the issue are analyzed the demographic, social and economic development of the Republic of Bulgaria in 2008. Comparisons with the preceding years are made and the tendencies of the development and the current structural changes are considered.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the electronic bilingual (Bulgarian/English) publication Average Prices and Purchased Quantities of Main Foods and Non-Foods by Households for the 1992 - 2008 Period.

The National Statistical Institute has the pleasure to submit to the attention of national and foreign users of statistical information the 76th edition of the Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria 2008. It provides topical statistical information on the demographic, economic and social development of the country for the 2002 - 2007 period in different territorial and classification aggregations and breakdowns.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the electronic bilingual (Bulgarian/English) publication Average Prices and Purchased Quantities of Main Foods and Non-Foods by Households for the 1992 - 2007 Period.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information one of its main publications - Statistical Reference Book of the Republic of Bulgaria 2008 in English. It is a concise form of the same issue in Bulgarian.

The Statistical Reference Book presents topical information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2004 - 2007 period.